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Fringe 2009 Reviews (24)
Drama Workshop
Spotlites Theatre Productions
The Merchants' Hall
*****
A Wow-Tastic Experience!
An excellent experience for children who love drama, dancing and storytelling.
Every day there's a different theme, which could be Harry Potter, Narnia,
Hannah Montana, Ben 10 and more.
The leader summarises the plot, asking you to act out the characters.
If there is a song to dance to, you combine acting and dancing, for
instance, High School Musical 3's 'A Night To Remember' is about
getting ready for the prom, you act like you are getting dressed: putting
on shoes, lipstick, eye shadow … whatever you like, which is a
good lesson in acting. It broadens your imagination because you have
to imagine that you are actually doing what you are acting out. Then
you take turns and tell the story: you can tell the original story or
make up your own whacky version.
It works for children of all ages – even four year-olds and teenaggers
although on the leaflet it says there is a limited age range.
Although this is a drop-off show, concerned parents don't have to worry.
The children are safe and always supervised. Despite the different age
groups, everyone is treated as their age group should be treated, but
the instructor is not too babyish for the older children, or too serious
or grown up for the younger children.
Katya Conrad (aged 10)
A Pirate's Life for Me
Act II Theatre Company
Augustine's
**
Heading for Poor-t and Star-bored
This show is about a girl who finds out her father has buried treasure
on an island and sails out with a crew to find it, but … she needs
your help. When a character has to make a decision in the story, you
decide what happens next.
Some songs lasted too long and had the same words throughout, which
I personally found very tiring. The costumes and characters were confusing
because most of the actors play two characters and wear costumes that
are split into two halves. One half is part of the ship's crew that
sets off to find the treasure and the other half is part of the pirate
ship's crew. The actors have to turn around to change characters and
sometimes have to walk on stage backwards to be a certain character
which they do while bumping into props. The props that were used included
a coat stand that was used to make a ship's wheel then put together
in another way, with green rubber gloves put on it to imitate a palm
tree.
The pirate captain was a convincing pirate and the actor who played
two characters who end up falling in love with each other – Peg
Leg Percy and Tina the Preener – was able to switch from a one-legged
seafarring man to a fashion-crazy pirate girl well.
Katya Conrad (aged 10)
The Critic
The Lincoln Company
C Chambers Street
***
Sheridan's The Critic is a romping farce, yet is also notable
as being cuttingly mocking as a very clever parody of the theatre of
the time. The play follows the rehearsal performance of the latest tragedy
by Mr. Puff. His two critic friends, one fawning and one antagonistic,
accompany him after a long discourse on the nature of playwriting. The
second act sees them view the play, whilst constantly interrupting the
running with questions and lengthy criticisms.
The two act piece is performed with aplomb by the Lincoln Company players,
never uncertain in their lines or footing as they carry the whole piece
off as best they can. The problem with The Critic is that the
two halves are wholly unequal, the first act is wordy, clever and relies
heavily on an understanding of literary and stage terminology. The second
at is far more accessible and falls on more physical and performance
heavy comedy. As a whole the play is unbalanced and the thickly cumbersome
dialogue will baffle the uninitiated, This is not to say it isn't well
worth seeing: it has more than enough to recommend it to theatre lovers.
Graeme Strachan
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